In its September newsletter, Coburg West Primary School (CWPS) announced that Greek language teaching will not be included in its 2019 curriculum plan.
Enrollment numbers are increasing, reaching full capacity, yet it is the same numbers that determine demand, from staffing needs to the programs that will be implemented by the school in the new year.
“All these decisions around staffing and curriculum programs must be managed within the annual budget allocation we receive from the Government,” said CWPS Principal Mark Colagrande.
“As such, it is fair to say it is a numbers game and a matter of balancing what is needed to best support all our students and provide them with the best possible education.
“As a school, we have been discussing our future direction,” he stressed, adding that the board has identified the need to improve certain subjects, like Science and Digital Technologies, but also came to the realisation that they had to terminate others.
“Part of this planning process has also meant that we have had to evaluate existing programs,” he said.
“One aspect we have been examining is that we offer two languages. As a school, we have a long history of strongly supported language programs; unfortunately, this is no longer the case for the Greek program. While for many years, it was purely a Mother Tongue program, in more recent years it has become a program of choice.”
For most of the school’s 101 years, upon enrolling, students and their families had the option of choosing between Italian and Greek. Over the years, numbers have varied and dropped and according to the CWPS’s most recent data, there have been recent years with as few as six students choosing Greek.
According to Mr Colagrande, at present, only 21 per cent of CWPS’s total enrollments have also enrolled in the Greek language program.
“That is less than a quarter of our total student population,” he outlined in the newsletter, and went on to explain that while a definitive decision has not yet been made, it has become evident that it is no longer a viable program for the school to keep running.
“It has become clear that these resources (financial, physical, staff etc) could be better directed to programs that benefit all students of CWPS,” Mr Colagrande continued.
“This is not a decision we are making lightly, as we understand the strong history the Greek program has had in our school. In fact, having started my teaching career as a language teacher at this school, I am a firm believer of the benefits of language learning for all students. As such, we are investigating other options to try to keep our current students involved in a Greek language program outside of regular school time.
“I felt it important to share this with the community as a whole, as you need to be aware of why such decisions are made. As mentioned, we are investigating other options and I will keep you informed as to the progress of this process,” the principal concluded.
The announcement has troubled some of the parents who are already enrolled in the school (mainly of Greek background) whose children have taken up Greek language classes in previous years.
Neos Kosmos will be following up on the school’s decision.
